Vermont and Rhode Island have been removed from a list of states with certain types of driver’s licenses deemed invalid in Florida.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles website on Monday listed Connecticut, Delaware and Hawaii as offering licenses that are invalid in Florida under a new law targeting undocumented immigrants.
“This afternoon, Vermont’s deputy commissioner of motor vehicles contacted our department and advised that Vermont’s ‘Driver Privilege Card’ is not exclusively issued to those without a legal presence in the U.S.,” Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Molly Best said in an email Monday.
“States listed in the published list of out-of-state license classes no longer accepted in Florida are states where a driver license class or permit is issued exclusively to unauthorized immigrants, thus making them invalid in Florida.”
Rhode Island was removed for a similar reason on July 10, Best said.
The governor’s office announced the list on July 5 as a pushback against the Biden administration’s handling of immigration issues.
“Someone who is in our country illegally and has violated our laws should not possess a government-issued ID which allows them access to state-funded services and other privileges afforded to lawful residents,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news release on July 5.
At the time, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles listed five states with invalid licenses and said the list was subject to change.
The new Florida law (SB 1718), which took effect July 1, includes a series of changes, such as stepping up requirements on businesses to check the immigration status of workers, cracking down on people who bring undocumented immigrants into Florida and collecting data about whether hospital patients are in the country legally.
